D.I.Y Planet Cooling

[Michaelangelica]

This article summarises the whole Global Warming Debate very comprehensivly with lots of links

http://yogakorunta.blogspot.com/2006/10/tuesdays-word-global-warming.html

There are five categories of actions that can be taken to mitigate global warming:

Reduction of energy use (conservation)

Shifting from carbon-based fossil fuels to alternative energy sources

Carbon capture and storage

Carbon sequestration

Planetary engineering to cool the earth

Strategies for mitigation of global warming include development of new technologies; carbon offsets; renewable energy such as biodiesel, solar power, and wind power; nuclear power; electric or hybrid automobiles; fuel cells; energy conservation; carbon taxes; enhancing natural carbon dioxide sinks; population control; and carbon capture and storage.

Many environmental groups encourage individual action against global warming, often aimed at the consumer,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Individual_action_against_global_warming and there has been business action on climate change.

[Michaelangelica]

Switch off your computer NOW!!!!!

(Do you get the feeling that The Global Warming Debate is designed to make us all feel guilty?)

Office Workers Who Leave Computers on All Night "Add to Global Warming"

By Martin Hickman

The Independent UK

 

Friday 06 October 2006

 

Don't just switch off the television, switch off the computer too.

Office workers who leave two million computers on every night are speeding up climate change, according to new research.

http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/100606LA.shtml

[Michaelangelica]

Not DIY, but an interesting comment and idea

 

"In a world with very limited fossil fuels or restricted use of fossil fuels you have got to go back to the technology of your great grandfather - no cars, but bicycles. The airships could form part of that."

 

The Spirit of Dubai boasts that during a week of operations it uses less fuel than a Boeing 767 uses to get from gate to runway.

 

But the real, glittering possibility for the airship aficionados is that future advances in solar panel technology could render them light enough to plaster over the airship's large surface area and make it an effective means of mass transport.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6135598.stm

[Turtle]

Not DIY, but an interesting comment and idea

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6135598.stm

 

I love airships, particularly dirigibles. Perhaps we need a thread just for them mate. :hihi: :lol: Wink-wink, nudge-nudge.

 

On the DIY, here's a shady proposition to cooling the Globus:

http://earthfiles.com/news/news.cfm?ID=1165&category=Environment

;)

[Michaelangelica]

I love airships, particularly dirigibles. Perhaps we need a thread just for them mate. :lol: :lol: Wink-wink, nudge-nudge.

 

On the DIY, here's a shady proposition to cooling the Globus:

http://earthfiles.com/news/news.cfm?ID=1165&category=Environment

:)

Go for it. It is about time they hired a good PR firm

Wern't the photo's, in the article, cool?

I loved the airships in the recent Dr. Who series.

Especially the ones flashing advertisments!!! You just know that would be the future!

 

This was a funny bit of areview on a nature programme on Penquins. Funny but it makes an interesting point

. . .we should look to the heroic birds of the ice for exoneration. Surely penguins would also have driven high-emission cars and burned fossil fuels on their 60-mile treks if they’d been smart enough to dream them up; would they have happily given up their toasty Subarus, and gone back to the tedious tottering over ice? No.

 

Every creature adapts to do things more efficiently, and sometimes wrecks the lives of other creatures in the process. Figuring out how to minimize the damage — if for no other reason than to have penguins around to photograph with Canon cameras — is just yet another stage in our evolution. And, if it’s going to happen, we won’t be bullied into it

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/11/arts/television/11heff.html?_r=1&ref=television&oref=slogin

[Boerseun]

Transportation is one of the biggest culprits when it comes down to global warming.

 

I think companies who enables and encourage their employees to telecommute should receive tax benefits, or some other form of incentive to increase their willingness in doing so. This will take a lot of vehicles off the roads, and reduce transportation's contribution to global warming. It will also make employees happy, seeing as they won't have to spend an unproductive and frustrating 2 hours on the clogged highway every day, commuting to and fro. They will have 2 more hours at home, some good warm and fuzzy family time.

 

Telecommute's the way to go...

[pgrmdave]

In addition to which, the fewer cars that are on the road, the less traffic for the rest of us 0.o

[Michaelangelica]

Transportation is one of the biggest culprits when it comes down to global warming.

 

Telecommute's the way to go...

It was predicted that this would happen sooner but our cities still seem to grow and public transport is always under-funded

 

It is interesting that we have not come up with many solutions. I like the iron idea. That was new to me.

 

I was hoping for practical things that would empower us personally to do something on an individual level. But solutions of any kind seem thin on the ground.

I have searched the web and just found dire predictions of doom which help no-body and silly ideas about sending up 100 space ships to put up an umbrella (I posted on that site that it would be cheaper to nuke USA, the major source of greenhouse gasses. I guess I will never get another Visa to visit the US now- I have a long beard too!:doh: )

 

I suppose we could all write letters to the UN asking them not to use DDT in Africa as it interferes with the ability of phyto-plankton to re-produce.

 

I mentioned my sense of inadequacy when turning off my TV and VCR to save electricity and then seeing the city buildings all ablaze with lights. (or dumb me leaving on a 150W outside light- I really annoy me when I do that).

It seems our whole lifestyle needs to change but I am not sure I would enjoy living in a tent

 

I have, at least, joined a Land Care Group, so I make and help plant trees and weed the local lake reserve. But as I am a creature of the night (like Buffy) getting going at 8.00AM is not always possible and I miss some working bees. Even then only a few people turn up to work.

 

Guess I'll just keep grinding up my BBQ charcoal. That feels hopeful.

 

Just re-read this post. I think I better go take my anti-depressant pill.

[Zythryn]

It seems our whole lifestyle needs to change but I am not sure I would enjoy living in a tent

 

No need to live in a tent. There is a lot we can do without compromising our standard of living in the least.

 

Switch that outside 150W bulb to a 35W cfb. Same light, one quarter the energy.

Switch all your incandescents to cfb. One quarter the energy, one quarter the landfill usage (as they last 4-6 times longer). On top of that, over the life of the bulb you save money.

 

Encourage your representatives to increase energy efficiency of cars and buses. In the USA, this will not only make us more efficient, but it will help our auto industries.

 

One person doing this will not 'save the world' but if lots of people do this it will:)

[Turtle]

I watched a show last night on PBS which focussed on wildlife in the Antartic, and as an aside they commented that while the margins of ice around Anarctica are warming and melting, the exact opposite is true for the interior where temperatures are lowering and the ice is building. :shrug:

I'll go look for at least the show title. :hihi:

 

Addendum: The show was Nature: Penguins of the Antarctic

[Zythryn]

Yep, that is very true.

 

As snow falls and gets compacted it builds the ice. According to recent studies, Greenlands ice is gaining at a rate of 14 cubic miles a year. However, it is loosing 41 cubic miles a year.

 

The glaciers of the inside passage in Alaska also gain ice due to snowfall. Most are loosing more ice than they gain, while a couple are holding steady. None in glacier bay are actually growing right now. Perhaps in the future if we wish really hard :shrug:

[Michaelangelica]

Switch that outside 150W bulb to a 35W cfb.

I have not seen cfb spots for outside use.

We use a 240V system so US lights are not compatible

Switch all your incandescents to cfb.

Not always possible

1. they are not recommended for down light fixtures

2. My wife HATES the light they give.

Recently the local energy company gave away six cfb bulbs to all. (The same week the same authority massacred 3 street trees next door which the Council has now removed) So I have them wherever I can

 

Encourage your representatives to increase energy efficiency of cars and buses. In the USA, this will not only make us more efficient, but it will help our auto industries.

All as thick as two short planks. No vi son of any kind for the future. They won't sign the Koyoto protocol (as for USA).

When Al Gore was out here a month or so ago, one MP just dismissed him as he was" just here to promote his film."I don't think he met with anyone in government.

Global warming is just appearing on their radar after National protest(?) marches thought the Country last week.

 

One person doing this will not 'save the world' but if lots of people do this it will:)

Sometimes I am impatient.

From BUFFY (The VPS, not the hypography moderator- although I am not sure that the ex-demon bit does not apply?:shrug: )

ZANDER: (to his ex-demon girlfriend) "Be Patient!"

SHE: "I was being patient

But it takes to long."

[Michaelangelica]

Plant a few trees

http://oldsilverback.blogspot.com/

Saturday, October 28, 2006

More wonderful facts about trees and CO2

 

I've Just found this piece on carbon fixation by our friends, the trees.

They actually store MORE carbon than they weigh!

It comes from the National Science foundation so perhaps we can believe it?

 

'..We find that about 45% of the dry mass (not including the water) of a tree comes from carbon. In other words,

a 100 Kilogramm log of a tree that has been completely dried contains about 45 kilograms of stored carbon.

 

While each kilogram of dried tree is storing .45 kilograms of carbon, it is removing more than a kilogram of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This is because each carbon dioxide molecule contains two oxygen atoms....

this means that each CO2 molecule has an atomic mass of 12+2(16)=44, of which only 12 are due to the carbon. Therfore, for each atom of carbon stored in the tree, 44 atomic mass units of CO2 is removed from the atmosphere. This means that each kilogram of dried tree corresponds to-

 

(1kg of dried tree) x (.45 kg of C/1 kg) x 44 amu of CO2/12 AMU of C) = 1.65 kg of CO2.'

 

AMU= Atomic Mass Units.

 

From- ESA 21, National Science foundation.

[CraigD]

I've Just found this piece on carbon fixation by our friends, the trees.

They actually store MORE carbon than they weigh!

…

While each kilogram of dried tree is storing .45 kilograms of carbon, it is removing more than a kilogram of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. This is because each carbon dioxide molecule contains two oxygen atoms....

This quote makes an interesting observation, but makes an obvious error, which it uses to suggest something mysterious about trees.

 

Trees – or any carbon sequestration medium – can’t and don’t store a greater mass of C than their total mass. From the quote, in the case of trees, they store about 45% as much C as they mass. While they eliminate a much greater mass of atmospheric CO2 than their mass, the O remain in the air, ready to recombine with the C in the event of such likely events as the tree being burned.

 

This is the crucial point of any carbon sequestration mechanism – if it doesn’t store the C somewhere where it’s unlikely to be released into the atmosphere for a long time, then it’s only a short-term fix. For most of Earth’s history, trees and other plants did this – though some burned due to naturally occurring fires, most of them died, fell, and were buried under the fallen sediment of the next generation of trees and plants, forming the shale, coal, and oil deposits now found in the Earth’s crust. Recently, though, this seemingly-eternal sequestration mechanism has been short-circuited by a certain brainy ape species that’s learned to dig, drill, and otherwise remove these fossil fuels and burn them, returning their C to the waiting atmospheric O2.

 

Geology tells us that, even without human influences, fossil carbon sequestration isn’t eternal. Eventually, natural mechanism such as intruding magma fields and volcanic eruptions release it. What we humans appear to have managed to do is shorten the cycle, creating a temporary but abrupt anomaly in atmospheric CO2 levels.

 

Causing abrupt, anomalous change in the environment is one of the defining characteristics of our species.

[Michaelangelica]

No trees?

Chop them down and make charcoal?

 

How about this suggestion?

One of the items on the list of things people can do to help the planet, is “check your tire pressure.”

Adam agrees with this, and reminds everybody that they need to be doing public service announcements about THIS, rather than about “talking to your children.”

http://adamcarolla1069freefm.blogspot.com/2006/11/adam-with-andy-dick-and-fmr-vice.html

[Boerseun]

Checking your tire pressure is very important! Tires that are even slightly underinflated increases your vehicle's rolling resistance to such a degree that your fuel usage can increase to up to 15-20% of normal consumption, before you can even see the tire visibly "flat".

 

I would support a campaign that would make underinflated tires a finable offense. You've got a sticker inside your door saying what the manufacturer recommends your pressure to be, and if a cop pulls you over and checks your pressure, and you're more than 5% out (compensating for tire temperature, etc), you should be fined.

 

I think the fear of being fined would be an incentive for people to check their tires more regularly, which, apart from saving tons and tons of carbon that would have gone into the atmosphere, is a good idea in itself. And the average car owner would save plenty bucks through lower fuel consumption!

 

Flat tires to be fined? Hell yeah! Brilliant idea! This just goes to show that there are lotsa stuff we can do already that'll decrease greenhouse gases, and pollution in general.

 

It has been calculated that transportation is the biggest contributor to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, so this is getting right to the core of the problem. And if people won't do it of their own volition, we'll just fine those with flat tires until they see the errors of their ways!

[CraigD]

I would support a campaign that would make underinflated tires a finable offense. You've got a sticker inside your door saying what the manufacturer recommends your pressure to be, and if a cop pulls you over and checks your pressure, and you're more than 5% out (compensating for tire temperature, etc), you should be fined.

I like the idea – though I can just hear people beating it up in court: “your honor, like I told the officer, I’d just left the house, and it was a really cold day, and I’d just watered my lawn and splashed some on the tires…”

 

What I think would really help maintain correct tire pressure is for manufacturers to make remote tire pressure monitors like the Doran T6001 standard equipment on all cars and trucks (Several manufacturers currently offer it as standard or optional equipment on select models, eg: the the 2007 Nissan Pathfinder, which categorizes it as a safety feature) Though current after-market kits like the Doran, which is intended for many-tired vehicles such as RVs, are a bit pricey (US$350), manufacturers have pointed out, and products currently exist, that integrate tire pressure monitoring into the remote door opening system that nearly all cars now have, which would knock its cost down to a few tens of dollars – an added cost that the typical consumer would recover within a few months in savings at the gas pump. Another benefit is that such systems usually include the difficult-to-inspect spare tire, alerting you if it looses pressure.

 

The ultimate system would something like what military and early consumer HMMWVs have – an air hose connecting an engine-driven air compressor to the tires. In addition to maintaining proper tire pressure, such a system can adjust air pressure for different traction needs, pumping it up for straight-line highway efficiency, then dropping it for sharp cornering or wet/icy/off-road conditions, and even allow a punctured tire to remain inflated until it can be brought in for repair.

 

Until any of these things happen, at $14.97 BS&H, products like these tire pressure visual indication valve caps make it easier to watch your tire pressure.